Hello!

Have others noticed the new (?) "Driving Cost" information on Dream Maps? A URL to get to Dream Maps the first time is shown below, then change to your own city and maximum allowable fare:

http://dps1.travelocity.com/dreamMap...orts&x=44&y=24

Anyway, now it gives you the cost to drive to a destination, as well as to fly there. You get to specify the cost of gasoline, which is not a very large portion of the total driving cost shown. If you double the price of gas, the total driving cost goes up only a few dollars.

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Middle_Seat

I'm not sure how they are calculating this, but it is very wrong.

It shows SEA-GEG as $66 flight, $190 drive. Driving round trip from Seattle to Spokane is much cheaper than that.

And for two days I have not been able to see the maps at all. It just shows me a small X where the map should be. Is anybody else getting this? With all the great fares out there I want to see where I can go!

FF

Hey freakflyer, you're at the center of the universe, why would you want to go anywhere?

Snake,

Couldn't agree with you more. Norhern California is heaven on earth. But then again let the games begin ....

ff

I would be interested to know how they calculate driving cost. What assumptions have they made about fuel economy and depreciation of the vehicle? I agree with SEA-Flyer that the SEA-GEG drive cost seems very out of line with reality.

If you set gasoline cost to zero on the maps you see that driving round-trip Austin - Dallas (400 miles) costs $80.

Raising gas cost to $2.00 per gallon will increase indicated driving cost to $100.

Therefore, Dream Maps is based upon 20 cents per mile for depreciation and maintenance, and 40 miles / gallon fuel economy.

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Middle_Seat

Is it possible they are calculating driving cost based on having to rent a car? That would be a huge portion of the total cost (compared to just the gas cost).

Jeff

People really don't think about the true expense of operating an automobile. When you figure the purchase cost including financing, maintainance and fuel, then add taxes and insurance, and then correlate that to the time one has to work to earn the money (after taxes) it works out for the average driver that you get to travel about 10-15 miles per hour, which is about as fast as you can go on a bicycle.

But you have to have a car to get to work, and you have to work to keep the car, so it's a vicious circle...

Bicycles, however also have the advantage of being much less dangerous to the hapless snake crossing the road.

same here. Although if I change the price some maps do show up but not all

Same problem here. Sometimes when you type in a new city code and try Europe, it works. But most of the time, still getting that small x.

CS

But at this rate (sic), why doesn't Travelocity add the following costs to that of flying:

* Parking at the airport
* Driving/Transportation to the airport
* The $12 tuna sandwich sold at one of the food places
* Time spent/wasted on layovers
* Time/energy/money spent when luggage is delayed.
* Money spent on computer/telephone used to book ticket

This seems little more than a way to make flying appear always cheaper than driving. The German Rail company also used such math in comparing prices of driving versus taking the train. Of course if you already own a car, adding some of the costs of driving (such as insurance/license/etc...) to the price of any transporation used makes sense, but they didn't do that, somehow...



[This message has been edited by SMessier (edited 07-01-2001).]

The driving cost stuff is totally annoying. Get rid of it. And I too am suddenly having trouble with the maps. My IAH map shows up fine but when I change it to another airport, I just get the "little x." Yuck.